Chiropractor Wrist Adjustments
(How To Help Your Wrist Pain)

What Causes Wrist Pain?

There are many different causes of wrist pain ranging from arthritis to injuries to tendonitis and beyond. Injuries to the wrist are very common and there are broadly two types of injuries that cause wrist pain:

1. Sudden impact like Maureen experienced when she fell on her wrist.
2. Repetitive strain injuries like those from typing on a keyboard or playing tennis.

Some sudden impact injuries can result in fractures or breaks but it's entirely possible to have wrist pain without having a fracture or break. In Maureen's case, she didn't have a fracture or break but she had a lot of inflammation and bruising around her wrist.

Repetitive strain injuries are more insidious and are brought on over time by doing any activity that involves repetitive wrist motion from hitting a tennis ball to typing on a keyboard to playing an instrument. This type of injury can inflame the tissues around joints or cause stress fractures, especially when you perform the movement for long periods of time without taking a break. Repetitive strain injuries can cause a myriad of conditions including carpal tunnel syndrome, tennis elbow, and bursitis. 

An injury isn't the only possible cause of wrist pain. Wrist pain can also be caused by osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis due to inflammation in the joints. We also see wrist pain in chiropractic patients who have damage to the anterior interosseous nerve or weakness from doing activities that require hyperextension like weightlifting and gymnastics.

Treating Wrist Pain With A Chiropractor Wrist Adjustment

At Kalkstein Chiropractic, we take a multi-pronged approach to treating our patients so they can start feeling better faster. In Maureen's case, we decided that the best treatment for her was to combine class 4 laser therapy, a chiropractor wrist adjustment, Kinesio Taping, and at-home exercises.

Maureen's class 4 laser therapy takes just 5-6 minutes per session and dramatically reduces pain and swelling as well as improving the range of motion of her wrist. A class 4 laser increases tissue regeneration which is why you heal faster but it also accelerates soft tissue and bone repair. This kind of laser therapy can also improve nerve regeneration & function as well as impact your cells to increase cell metabolism, enzymatic responses, collagen production, and promote angiogenesis (the creation of new blood vessels). With class 4 laser therapy, you walk away feeling better but the therapy continues to work on the cellular level to improve your musculoskeletal health after you leave our chiropractic office.

After Maureen's laser therapy we move on to doing her chiropractor wrist adjustment. Dr. Warren manipulates the tissue around the wrist to create more mobility within the joints and reduce pain. A wrist adjustment is a pleasant experience for patients and doesn't cause any pain. A chiropractic wrist adjustment is a pretty relaxing process for the patient.

After the wrist adjustment, Dr. Warren demonstrates how to do Kinesio Taping to stabilize the wrist and provide support without the restricted feeling of a wrist brace. This simple taping process can be done at home to provide extra support to the wrist and can be helpful both for wrist injuries as well as for people who do a lot of weightlifting.

Like so many of our chiropractic patients, Maureen has done a great job of doing her exercises at home and as a result of that combined with her treatment, she is feeling much better. She has made tremendous progress and the inflammation and pain she was feeling in her wrist have drastically improved.

As chiropractors, we develop a unique treatment plan for each of our patients depending on their needs but a chiropractor wrist adjustment can be a great way to feel better faster when you're experiencing wrist pain. Are you feeling some wrist pain that could be improved with a wrist adjustment? Do you want to feel better faster like Maureen? Click here to schedule your chiropractic appointment to get drug-free relief from your wrist pain!